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<article-title>Population Growth, Structure and <br/>Distribution in Saudi Arabia</article-title>
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<author>Majed Sultan Abu Ashwan, Asharaf Abdul Salam<br/> and Mohamed A. Mouselhy </author>

<aff>King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. </aff>

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<title>ABSTRACT</title>
<p> Saudi Arabia, the largest country in the Arabian Peninsula, is going through changes on its demographic front; not only on fertility but also on growth, structure and distribution. Still, fertility and reproduction are the most prioritized aspect of demography not only because of the young population but also of the pronatalist population policy. Demographic achievements of Saudi Arabia are remarkable in terms of mortality rates and life expectancy at birth. A rapid growth, especially of expatriate population, and urbanization are considered as demographic challenges. Keeping these challenges in mind, an attempt at exploring growth, structure and distribution is made in this paper. Attempts are made to compare native and expatriate population, male and female population and various age groups. Census data was made use for this analysis. National Census of 1974, 1992, 2004 and 2010 were used. A significant growth of population especially of expatriate population combined with changes in age structure and geographic distribution was noted. Age structure of native population shows reducing childhood population and subsequent increasing adult and old aged population whereas that of expatriate population shows a increasing adult population. Changes in Saudi Arabian demography are indicative of transitions in birth and death rates. It is time for the country to adopt population based information driven development planning. </p><p><italic>Keywords: </italic>Population growth, Demographic transition, Demographic lag, High fertility, Population policy, Age structure. </p>
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<hpdf>HVD826</hpdf>
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